Study of Essential Oils from Leaves of Asteraceae Family Species Ageratina dendroides and Gynoxys verrucosa

In the present research, essential oil from Ageratina dendroides (Spreng.) R.M. King & H. Rob. and Gynoxys verrucosa Wedd. collected of Ecuador were investigated. The isolation of the essential oil was carried out by hydrodistillation and the chemical composition is determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID). In the two species a total of sixty-two volatile compounds were identified, which represent between 98.61 - 99.17 % of the total chemical composition. The main components were germacrene D (29.92 +/- 0.68 %), delta-cadinene (9.31 +/- 0.11 %) and cis-cadina-1,4-diene (5.48 +/- 0.04 %) in the essential oil of Ageratina dendroides, and alpha-zingiberene (45.57 +/- 1.66 %), alpha-amorphene (11.12 +/- 0.24 %), rho-cymene (15.23 +/- 0.10 %) and alpha-phellandrene (11.72 +/- 0.15 %) in the oil of Gynoxys verrucosa. Yield and physical properties of essential oil are also reported. This is the first report on volatile compounds for this species.

Automated summary

The present study investigated the chemical composition of essential oils from Ageratina dendroides and Gynoxys verrucosa collected in Ecuador. A total of sixty-two volatile compounds were identified in the essential oils, with germacrene D and alpha-zingiberene being the main components in Ageratina dendroides and Gynoxys verrucosa, respectively. This is the first report on the volatile compounds of these species.